Advice to a Bishop

Sit igitur erga subjectos sollicitudo laudabilis. Exhibeatur cum mansuetduine disciplina. Sit cum discretione correptio. Iram benignitas mitiget, benignitatem zelue exacuat; et ita alterum condiatur ex altero, ut nec immoderata ultio pius quam oportet affligat, nec iterum frangat rectitudinem disciplinae remissio. Instructrio commissi populi fraternititis vestrae sit actio. Videat in vobis quod diligat, cernat quod imitari festinet. Exemplo vestro vivere doceatur. A recto itinere te duce non deviet, ad Deum vos sequendo perveniat, ut tot ab humani generis Salvatore retributiones accipias, quot lucra ei operatus fueris animarum.  Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, Registri Epistolarum, Lib. V, Epistola LVII, Ad Joannem Episcopum

Therefore let your consideration for your people be laudable. Let discipline be shown with gentleness, correction with discretion. Let kindness temper anger, let zeal sharpen kindness: and let the one be so seasoned with the other that neither immoderate punishment afflict more than it should, nor laxity ruin the rectitude of discipline. Let the conduct of your Fraternity be a lesson to the people entrusted to you. Let them see in you what they should love, let them perceive in you what they should hasten to imitate. By your example let them be taught how to live. Let them not deviate from the straight road by your leading, and let them come to God by following you, that you may receive as many rewards from the Saviour of the human race as you have won souls for Him. Pope Saint Gregory the Great, Registry of Letters, Book 5, Letter 57, To the Bishop John